Criminal Law Midterm

What is The Purpose of Criminal Law? 

Helps maintain social order 

Prevents physical harm 

Property loss 

What is a crime?

Whatever the penal code and law declare to be a crime has a punishment attributed to it.

Civil Law

Dispute between individuals and entities over contracts

A guilty verdict only requires a preponderance of evidence

You are only found liable 

What is a Felony?

A crime that is punishable by death or more than one year in prison 

What is a misdemeanor?

Crime that is punishable by less than a year in jail.

What are Mala Se Crimes

Morally evil crimes

• Murder

• Rape

• Robbery

What are Mala Prohibita Crimes

Crimes that aren’t inherently evil but are forbidden by law. 

• Tickets, Running a stop sign 

Common Law

Judge Made Law

• Unwritten law based on legal precedents 

Define Punishment

A crime is made up of proscribed conduct and a prescribed penalty 

• Conduct cannot be criminal unless a punishment is prescribed to it. 

Define Incapacitation

Protects Society by preventing an offender from reoffending 

• Protects the public by removing dangerous individuals from society 

Define Retribution

Punishment given as a form of moral vengeance

• offenders deserve to be punished for the harm they caused 

• Restores a sense of justice or moral balance 

Define Deterrence

Punishment is designed to discourage the offender from committing crimes in the future

• Specific - aimed at the same offender

• General - aims to deter others in society

Define Rehabilitation 

Focuses on reforming the offender so they can reenter society as a law-abiding citizen

What is the Principle of Legality

The 1st principle of American criminal Law that was developed by common law judges 

• conduct is not criminal unless forbidden by law, which gives advanced warning that the conduct is criminal.

Bill of Attainder 

A legislative act that punishes an individual without the benefit of a trial; punishment does not have to be criminal 

What are Ex Post Facto Laws 

Prevents legislation from being applied to acts committed before a statute went into effect 

• every law that makes an action done before the passing of a law criminal and punishes that action 

Void-For Vagueness

Constitutional Law Principle that states that a statute is unenforceable if it is too vague for the average person to understand 

1. Must be sufficiently clear about what conduct is prohibited 

2. It must be clear to prevent arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. 

Actus Reus 

Voluntary act or omission where there is a legal duty to act 

Mens Rea

There is a requisite culpable mental state

Concurrence requirement

The culpable mental state and the voluntary act or omission must have happened at the same.

Causation Requirement

The voluntary act was cause of the social harm

What is a Voluntary Act?

A bodily movement performed consciously as a result of effort or determination 

Why does Criminal Law only punish voluntary acts? and not thoughts? 

A statute that criminalized thoughts would be unconstitutional 

1. would involve too much governmental intrusion 

2. The social harm created by a thought would be hard to measure 

Attendant Circumstances 

Conditions or context required for a crime 

Constructive Possession 

A person who exercises dominion and control over tangible property not on their person

Presumption

The presence of illegal contraband in a car is presumptive evidence that all the people in the car possess it if no one owns up to it being there

What are the requirements for someone to be charged with possession? 

1. Must know they possess it 

2. Must know the general character of what they possess 

3. Exercise actual or constructive possession over the item 

What is a status offense? 

An offense based on your status or condition 

violates the eigtth amendment 

Duty based on a statue 

A law requires you to act 

Duty based on special relationship

certain relationships automatically create a legal duty to act

Duty based on contract

If a job or contract requires you to act you must

Duty based on assumption of care

If you take responsibility to care for someone you have a duty to care for them

Duty based on creation of peril

if you created a dangerous situation you must act

Duty based on control of others or property

if you have control over a property you must act to prevent harm.

Intentional

A person acts intentionally when his conscious objective is to engage in a particular conduct or result. 

Knowingly

A person acts like this when he is aware that his conduct is of such a nature or that such a circumstance affects

Recklessly 

A person acts recklessly when he is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk 

• The risk must show a major deviation from what a reasonable person would do.

Criminal Neglience

When you fail to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that will occur.